Used mine all this year - big bonus over the standard viscachia is that the dry bag is waterproof. I bung all of my dry kit in it - sleeping bag, mat, overnight kit and spare kit on a tour. I can chuck the tent up and then grab the dry bag out of the harness, shove it in the tent knowing everything I need is in there and bone dry. Only problem I've had is the seat rail straps rubbing on the harness sides and wearing them a bit on a muddy trip. Solved by two bits of duct tape.

Great pictures - looks like a job for a fatbike!

I did it in 1995 after that long hot summer - I recall riding about 75% but thinking it would be hard going during normal conditions. Beyond craig it got much rougher as the path isn't as well used. Speak to Iona as she did the route last spring and it was apparently absolutely horrendous - carrying the whole way. If you put this in I'm definitely using the fat bike! Also the diabeg road makes the drumbeg road look flat!

PS whats wrong with the tollie path - I did this the same year and it was a great trail from what I remember! 'Spose another option would be to exit Fisherfield via the path over to Letterewe from Canmore and down the loch shore below Slioch but I think this is pretty hard going too...

A pal reminded me of a story I heard recently about the organiser of the original Tour de France. Seemingly he was quoted as saying that his ideal race would be to have only one person make the finish....

Has the trail from the loch up been improved? Many years ago it was a horror show of bog, but I'd heard a rumour it has been worked on? Good fun past the ciaran bothy. If we're looking at alternatives, the climb up from annat could be bypassed by climbing up to the mid section of coire lair  from the forest track over to achashellach. This has a tiny bothy half way up and is almost 100% rideable, whilst taking in the good bit of the coire lair decent. I guess it's less 'hard' but WAY more fun.

I've done that route, its a great climb up from the bothy
I'm going to try way over from Loch maree to the back of Liatach which misses out the road to Kinlochewe and torridon. Most of it looks like a good stalker path up Glen grudie with about a 2k gap to the good path behind Liatach back to torridon that looks like it would go OK. Where it comes out on the road there is another path into Corrie Granda past the Ling hut. The map shows another km gap but there is a path up into the corrie visible on google aerial photos

Interesting. It looks about the same distance (15km) but with 350m of climbing. How much of it is rideable? The current way has only 5km that is on/off/hike-a-bike, although it may seem more!

When I did it I was doing a loop back to KLL so I only went as far as the bothy then back to the dam and down to KLL. A few hop on hop off burn crossings along the side of the loch and a couple of bits of the climb beat me but the rest is pretty much all rideable with a few more hop on hop off burn crossings etc. there was a really long length of 12" wide stony single track which was ace. I did it in October 11 after much foul weather. I know a few folk who've gone all the way down to Loch treig and it goes OK - lots of riding barring the odd burn crossing.

Alasdair - I've done the pipeline back from loch eilde and down the chiarain path to KLL - OK but a bit wet in places. The SSDT uses that route

I really enjoyed the abhain rath trail - was much more rideable than when I did it in '03 although 3" tyres helped. That said a great alternative is to turn right at the head of loch eilde mor and follow the stalkers path over meall na cruaidhe then head down the chiarian path to Loch treig - ace wee rocky single track apart from the last k (which is downhill) - possible alternative for next year Alan?

Arkle path looks ace, a job for the fat bike methinks!
New rule if you scratch next year - you have to take a selfie after you've made the decision and then Alan can judge who looks the most pissed off, I reckon I might of beaten you Ian cos my face was tripping me all the way down the hill to ullapool!

Funnily enough my achillies tendons were giving me a bit of gyp on my road ride back to tyndrum, never ever having bothered me before - maybe it was the midges...

Excellent account and well done mate
Phil C

You guys need to get yourselves some sealskin socks!
15 hours in the rain of Sunday and through the puddles on the Orrin res track and my feet were bone dry!

Really enjoyed seeing these pics and all the bike set ups. I thought there would be a lot more mud guards (U.S.= fenders) on bikes. Thx for posting the link.

Big congrats to everyone finished and good luck to everyone still out there.

Mudguards didn't make a huge difference to my set up given the conditions on Sunday but them and my full waterproofs, including gaitors made 15 hours of rain and muddy water bearable. Pity my legs were shot from overdoing it on Saturday....

Light northerlies forecast all next week varying between NE and NW. Should be OK for staggering back to tyndrum. no epic rain forecast as yet just showers improving into next week. Lots of rain today in the NW so plenty of water under the wheels I suspect

OK so this is aimed at roadies but rule 5 is something to bear in mind when you pitch up at Tyndrum in a fortnights time
http://www.velominati.com/the-rules/

Plenty of the route is on big graded tracks and roads that don't go up and down like a roller coaster. Check out yer contours, geograph.org, www.heritagepaths.co.uk and google aerials.
As for lights - there will be around three hours of full dark in any 24. Spend them sleeping, not riding

Damn it -I thought there would be two Krampusess (Krampi) at the start line!
Good write up mate and a good insight into the challenge. Just back from a 2 day motorbike reccy of various trail entrances on the route and to get myself re-acquainted with the geography up there. Weather stunning, trails super dry and rivers very low, roll on the end of May. I have to say that your account has just made me want to get stuck into this even more - the Suilven path looks like my favourite kind of trail - techy, nadgery and with stunning scenery. I'll forgive it the boggy sections just for that!

And besides, someones bound to find your cache and nick it!
Cracking weather in those pics, I'd love to think thats what we're in for at the end of May but good weather only happens rarely in the west....

Did you suss out the access to the trail over to Kylesku from Loch stack? Alan Goldsmith posted a while back that it had changed from the original ROW behind the lodge to a new track up by the power lines.

Good pics - it would be nice to think that the weather will be similar when the race gets there....

Some photos of the southern section here....
http://www.blog.scotroutes.com/2014/04/count-me-out.html

Good trip and write up - Nice to see that the Abhain rath is doable after the snow melt and will hopefully be a bit lower come the end of May. I got midged in fort Augustus last week so they will be out in force come the end of May. Easy to forget that this time last year we were still getting hard frosts over night....

Really not sure about well ventilated shoes - fine for hot dry climates but a recipe for freezing feet in Scotland at any time of year. Bear in mind there are only two major river crossings on the route - either go bear foot or remove socks and insoles from your boots for rocky river beds. The insides of your boots will be wet but if you drain them well you'll have warm feet when you put your socks back on and a pair of sealskins will mean dry feet. Plus a decent pair of boots will give you good ankle support and grip for the hike a bike bits, particularly up from Loch broom

Northwave canion goretex for me

The SSDT uses most of the trails the route follows from tyndrum to Fort Augustus including the path between Lubielt bothy and Loch treig - there are sections up the burns on the north side of this path all the way along it so watch out for false trails heading away from the main river. to be honest even 150 trials bikes don't do too much damage and without them the lubielt loch trieg path would be a pathless slog!

There is an outdoor shop at Ardelve just up from Eilean donan castle which has some bike stuff (and gas)

Another thing worth bearing in mind is the bike bus which runs between Inverness and Durness via Ullapool every day - useful if you have a serious mechanical http://www.inverness-durness-highland-bike-bus.co.uk/